On Love And Rivalry
by vicky sugar
Summary: Evietro. The story about Evan meeting Pietro for the first time and how did they become friends, then enemies and much more later on. R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Meeting You

I've noticed almost outrageously small amount of Evietro, which just happens to be my favorite pairing , on this site. Therefore I'm going to fix this.

I DO NOT OWN X-MEN: EVOLUTION OR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED (though I'm working on it)

I also know absolutely NOTHING about New York, so don't sue me it I mix something up.

**Chapter 1: Meeting You**

Evan was bored out of his mind. He couldn't go out because of the rain. He couldn't even go upstairs to his room because of Auntie O.'s visit. So the boy sat in the living room, staring out of the window.

"Evan could you please bring the sugar?"

The nine-year old turned his head at the sound of his mother's voice.

"Huh?"

"I asked you to bring sugar."

He got up from the couch he was sitting on and went to the kitchen. Auntie O. was OK, but her visits were usually dull. The only bright side of them was that she could do some magic and the rain would disappear. Evan wasn't allowed to talk about it, but he'd ask her to do it anyways.

Just as he walked into the living room, he saw a truck pulling next to the house on the other side of the street. The house was empty for a while now, but apparently someone was going to move in.

"Hey, mom! Look! Somebody is moving in."

The boy rushed to the window to see another car parking next to the truck. From it, emerged a man around fifty, accompanied by a woman with dark hair. And then there was a small boy sitting on the back seat. He looked really sad, his head hung down, eyes staring at his lap. As if he sensed that somebody is watching him, he looked up, meeting Evans gaze. He smiled weakly. Evan smiled back. In that very moment some kind of connection was made between them.

Evan jumped out of the bed as soon as he woke up. The sun was shining, lighting up his room. The boy run down the stairs and found him mom sitting at the table in the kitchen, reading her magazine.

"I'm going outside!" he said and without waiting for her answer he rushed out the front door.

On the other side of the street, on the stair leading to the house, sat the boy Evan saw the other day. Since the sun was out and the rain didn't blur the vision, he could take a better look at him. His hair were snowy white, with two wing-like bangs. Boy's skin had the palest shade Evan had ever seen. Cerulean eyes watched him curiously.

"Hi. I'm Evan," dark skinned boy reached out his hand.

The other boy took it gently and gave it a careful shake.

"I'm Pietro."

His voice had quite distinctive accent Evan couldn't place.

"Where are you from?"

"Romania. I'm a gypsy."

Evan wondered for a while where was that. Definitely nowhere near New York.

"Hey, you wanna play some basketball?"

"What is a basketball?"

"C'mon, I'll show you!"

Evan spent the afternoon teaching Pietro basics of basketball. He was glad that the boy turned out fast learner and quite a talented player.

"OK, I need a break," blonde panted as Pietro shot another hoop.

Pale boy laughed and sat down on the ground next to Evan.

"Why do you have white hair?"

"It is _silver_," pouted the boy. "And I don't know. My foster mom said I'm an al-bi-no," he struggled for a little with a new word. "Is your hair always like this?"

Evan smoothed his new haircut. He adored it. The color was unusual but completely natural for him. He suspected it had something to do with Auntie O.'s white hair.

"You wanna grab something to eat?"

"_Va_," nodded Pietro. Evan guessed it meant "yes". They get up from the ground and walked to Evan's house. The boy led Pietro to the kitchen. Mrs. Daniels was making a dinner.

"Hi mom."

"Hello Evan. Oh, who is it with you?"

"That's Pietro. He just moved next door. He's albino from Rome."

"Romania," corrected the boy.

"Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Pietro, I'm Evan's mom. Would you like to have a dinner with us?"

Pietro blushed gently, and nodded.

"OK, I'll call you when it's ready."

The boys run upstairs to Evan's room. Half an hour later they sat at the table enjoying spaghetti with meatballs. After that, Mrs. Daniels gave boys some cheesecake.

"_Gestena_*," said Evan, while taking his plate, using one of the few words he learned from Pietro. His mom looked at him surprised, while the other boy laughed, proud to have such a smart apprentice.

And so the day passed and Pietro had to go home. As each boy laid in his bed, they thought that this day was definitely one of the most important in their lives. And it certainly was.

* * *

*Gestena - thank you in Romani (at least that's what my dictionary says)

Next up: Middle school begins and boys start for the basketball team. Pietro realises something...


	2. Chapter 2: Liking You

**Chapter 2: Liking you**

Few years passed by. Now both boys were about twelve years old and today was a big day for both of them.

Pietro took a deep breath as he walked through the door leading to the classroom. So far he was home schooled, due to his English problems, but since he met Evan they both learned a lot form each other. Now it was beginning of the school year and so it happened that he was the only new kid. Not the best thing when your looks make you stand out more.

Other kids, so far giggling and chatting, turned rapidly towards him. He blushed and walked to the last row where Evan held a seat for him.

"Hey! They making a b-ball team, you wanna try out?"

Albino nodded. That was one of the reasons he actually came to school. The other one was Evan, he simply couldn't let his friend face the torture of seven-hours long boredom alone. Besides it was a way to get away from... _things_ at home. He shifted gently, trying to ease the bruises on his back. Evan looked at him concerned. Pietro grinned to him, dismissing any suspicions he might have had.

"Peter, I understand that you're new in the class, but could you please pay attention!"

Pietro blushed even more, mumbling something under his breath. The black boy next to him smiled. He knew that Pietro hated when people mixed up his name. He kicked him under the desk. The gypsy boy kicked back, a bit harder. By the end of the lesson, both boys had their legs covered in bruises from gentle but frequent kicks delivered to each other.

------------------------------------------------------

The basketball coach was a tall, broad man with brown eyes and brown hair. There was something in his expression that neither of the boys liked.

"OK," he said. "Anyone of you has any idea about basketball or you came just because?"

Evan and Pietro raised their hands hesitantly. Evan looked at the boy next to him, his eyebrows raised, questioning look in his eyes.

"I don't like him either," said Pietro in Romani. Coach looked at them strangely then handed them a ball.

"OK, show us what you got."

"One on one?" asked silver haired boy, this time in English. Evan nodded.

They started dribbling the ball, each one of them playing at their best, just like they did in front of Evan's house. It ended up with Evan shooting one more hoop than Pietro and coach clapping few times.

"That was… quite OK."

Pietro winced. He knew that his English vocabulary was limited, but next to that guy he was an Oxford Dictionary!With that thought, the coach started to talk how the team would look like and the real training began.

------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later they walked home, wide grins on their faces.

"Oh man, we kicked some butts!" said Evan.

"Yeah, right! We rule!"

Suddenly Pietro remembered that it was time to head 'home'. His smile faded.

"_Is'i tu misto?_"*

The boy shuddered hearing blonde's horrible accent, but still was pleased to hear that he could (more or less) put together a sentence in Romani.

"_Me som kushti_."**

"OK man. I'll see you later!" said Evan turning towards his house.

"Yeah, I'll see you..."

Pietro stayed out for a little longer, but when it got dark it started to get colder too. He went inside. As usual, his foster father was way too drunk to notice he was home. His foster mother passed away year after he moved here and that was when the whole mess started. He didn't tell anyone though, because they would take him away and he couldn't lose the people he cared about, like Evan . Not again...

_It was raining heavily. A little boy and a man whom the boy knew was his father, though he haven't seen him more than ten times in his life since he went to his first foster family, stood outside the tall, grim building. The boy couldn't_ _have been older than six. His hair was white, same as the man next to him. His head was hung down, silent tears flowing down his face. With the corner of his _eye _he could see two man in yellow raincoats, dragging a girl, the same age as him, into the building._

_"Father!" she screamed. "Father!"_

_She cried, desperation and fear filled her voice. Pietro wished he could do something, but the man who ordered to be referred to as Magneto said it was for her own good. The boy believed him at the time. It was true that the girl was out of control, she even hurt him last week while they were playing. It was an accident but still..._

_Was it necessary to take her away? His twin sister?_

_"Wanda..." Pietro whispered as the heavy door closed. Magneto stayed deaf for the cries of his daughter, simply turned away and opened the car doors. They drove away, Pietro's heart getting heavier with every second. What is he ever got 'the gift', as Magneto said about Wanda's skills? Would he be locked away?_

Pietro snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the movement from the living room. His foster father was up. The man, now nothing like he was before his wife died, staggered towards the boy's room. He opened the door. Albino smelled the heavy scent of alcohol and stared at the leather belt the man was holding. Tonight was going to be tough.

The boy didn't even listen as his foster father yelled something about it being his fault that his wife died. Instead, he focused on not crying as the belt met his back. Pietro learned, that for some reason crying made it worse. As if it weren't enough, his head started to hurt, pulsing, almost like it was going to explode...

"Good," he thought. "At least then he'll leave me alone."

Suddenly he felt cold air around him. He opened his eyes, realising that he was outside. And he was running. But it was like no run he ever did. The images flared by him, his brain barely registering them. He was faster than the cars speeding down the highway, but still didn't feel tired. On the contrary, run seemed to give him even more energy, making him feel happy. _Free_.

The boy stopped after a while. He sniffed the air. Something was burning. Pietro looked down at his feet. The smoke was coming from his shoes, or what was left of them. The watch on Pietro's wrist beeped. He looked at it. It was seven o'clock. His foster father came to him about quarter to seven, and beat him for at least ten minutes. That mean Pietro run for only few minutes. He laughed. He stood in the middle of the street and was laughing hysterically. Few people who passed by him looked at the boy, picking up their pace. Pietro simply realized something. He had 'the gift'. Now his foster father will not be able to touch him, not ever again.

* * *

*Is'i tu misto? - are you alright?

**Me som kushti - I am fine

A/N: I'm trying my best with Romani, but I don't speak it, so I don't even know if the grammar is correct. Sorry

Next up: even more realisations, from both Pietro and Evan...


	3. Chapter 3: Liking You II

**Chapter 3: Liking You II  
**

It's already been a year, since Pietro discovered his power. By now he practically couldn't imagine living without it. He could sleep longer (not that he needed it), his foster father couldn't lay a finger on him, he could learn for the tests and things over night, he could do anything in few seconds. But it came with a price. He couldn't tell Evan and he was constantly bored. The only thing that kept him amused for long enough were basketball, Evan's company and the challenges he started to make up for himself.

Evan also noticed a change in his friend. He became more outgoing, popular even, his grades were never below ninety percent even though he studied even less than Evan, and he became quite restless. There wasn't a moment when Pietro stood still for longer than a second. It wasn't a big thing, just tapping his foot or pacing around during the break. Most people didn't notice it, but they weren't gypsy boy's best friends. Not that he was unpopular, no. At the beginning there were few issues due to Pietro's heritage, but now he was perceived as a witty basketball star, almost inseparable from the black skater, also a basketball player.

But then Pietro started to notice things in himself that started to disturb, even scare him sometimes. Basically from the beginning of the school he was surrounded by girls, most of them quite pretty, he had to admit. At first he though it was because he was much more fun to be around than some muscle-heads. Then, that maybe they were simply curious, of his pale complexion, white ("silver" as he always corrected) hair, mysterious background, extraordinary taste in clothes. But then it got to him. Maybe it was when he saw one of them fluttering her eyelashes at him, but he realised that they _liked_ him. Like in some sort of romance novel! And suddenly Pietro found himself not caring even a bit.

And then there was this... incident.

It was a big night for middle school basketball team. It was middle of the season, but this game decided whether or not they are going to play for the championship.

The first half turned out alright, more or less even out. Their team was leading by four points.

"Now, only keep them away from the ball and the game is ours. OK?" said coach.

Players nodded and Evan exchanged glances with Pietro. He could see how excited he was, almost jumping up and down.

"You OK, man?"

"Yeah, I'm _kushti_."*

"If you say so."

And then the second part of the game began. There had been so much going on, that even Pietro's quick mind almost lost the track of events. One minute they were winning, the other they were losing by twenty points!

"Come on guys! Play like a team," yelled the coach from his bench. However his voice was soon drowned in the sound of the audience cheers as Evan scored three points for their team. From that moment, everything changed. Now it was them who scored and the other team ended up losing by over fifteen points. The boys cheered, holding the game's hero, Evan Daniels, high in the air. Pietro followed them, wide smile on his face.

For the next half an hour, the locker room was full of laughter and talking. Finally it was only Pietro and Evan left. The blonde was taking much deserved shower, while Pietro waited on him, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on the bench he was sitting at.

"Gosh! It's so uncomfortable," he thought. "Moving at a slime's pace. Why can't I just run, move as fast as I please? Maybe I should tell Evan. He would understand, wouldn't he? And there are so many things we could do together if he knew..."

But the speedster never got to think of those things. As soon as his thoughts wandered in that direction, Evan walked out of the showers, with just a towel around his hips. A wave of heat passed through his body, weird, butterfly-like feeling down in his stomach. What was that about? He's seen Evan in the towel before.

_"What is going on Pietro?" asked Evan getting closer to the boy.  
_

_"I... I don't know."_

_"How can you not know?" the blonde's face was centimeters from his own. "Because I know."_

_"You do?"_

_"I can see the way you look at me sometimes. And I want to say that I feel the same."_

_Before any of them had a chance to say something else, Evan's arms wrapped around Pietro's neck, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Albino gasped as the other boy took liberty of sliding one of his muscular legs between his tighs, the intimated brush sending shivers down his spine._

_"That's a new one. Pietro Maximoff - speechless."_

_Pietro still haven't gotten the occasion to respond, moaning as Evan kissed his neck, leaving a small hickey behind. The dark-skinned hands caressed his back, sliding lower and lower, just to be pulled up withing a second. Just this time, they found it's way under the boy's shirt. Evan's warm fingertips were causing more gasps and moans from the silver-haired boy, as they seemed to finds every sensitive point on his body..._

Pietro woke up screaming Evan's name. He looked around to find the one guilty of ripping him away from the wonderful dream he had. His alarm clock ended up being tossed out through the window. Pietro sighed. Why life couldn't be like his dreams, simple and uncomplicated? He started dressing to school, trying to ignore rumbling in his stomach. He haven't eaten since yesterday, his foster father spent all the money on alcohol. He'll just have to ask Evan to share his lunch with him or something.

The first person Pietro noticed when he got to school was Evan, as always. But then he noticed a girl standing next to him. He studied her for a moment. Long black hair in thin braids, tanned skin, expensive clothes (yes, Pietro knew expensive clothes when he saw them. Mostly because he didn't own any) and a fake smile glued to her face, never reaching her mud-brown eyes. He walked over to his friend, just in time to hear her say:

"You were like so fantastic at that game yesterday, you know!"

"He just knows how to play with the team. And he had perfect passes from his perfect friend," Pietro smirked as he said that and Evan laughed loudly.

"_Lashi de tehara** _to you too, Pietro. Hey, this is Madison. She's an exchange student from California."

The girl looked at Pietro, disinterest clear in her eyes. Then she turned to Evan again.

"Well, I am so hoping that you are going to help me out. I'm so totally lost in here. Like, where should I go now?" she said, pointing her schedule. (1)

Fortunately for Pietro's sanity, Madison left them after school, claiming she had to do some sightseeing. As soon as they lost sight of her, Pietro growled:

"I don't like her. And she clearly doesn't like me."

"C'mon, she's fine. Not as great as you, but fine."

Evan's response made Pietro shiver inside. Something told him that the girl was trouble.

* * *

* kushti - fine, good

**lashi de tehara - good morning

(1) - now guess why Pietro doesn't like Kitty ;)

A/N: this one was hard to write, because I don't know exactly what is going on in thirteen-year-olds' head (it's been long time since I've been one), especially boys', but I think I managed. Please, I'm starving for REVIEWS!

Next up: next school year is up and Evan and Pietro have a sleepover. Some Madison trouble ensured and Pietro is trying to deal...


	4. Chapter 4: Telling You

**Chapter 4: Telling You**

The rest of the school year was a torture, at least for Pietro. Madison was stuck to Evan like... like something really sticky! She was practically following him everywhere, to the games, in the hallways, after school. It was driving Pietro insane.

Fortunately the summer came quickly and Madison went to some expensive place for the whole two months, leaving Evan and Pietro in New York. They had lots of fun, spent whole days messing around and playing basketball. Evan even tried to teach Pietro how to skateboard. 'Tried' being a key word. After that Pietro turned out to be a natural talent in first aid.

And then eight grade begun. And the first person Pietro saw after returning to school was Madison.

"And the day was starting so nice," he said to himself.

Of course Evan immediately left his side to say 'hi'. He haven't seen him until the end of the day. But after that ha had him all to himself, as they were having a sleepover. No girls whatsoever. Evan recently had birthday and boys were eager to test new video game he got from his parents. And since Evan's parents weren't going to be there, why not use the chance?

"Hi mom," said Evan as they entered his house. Mrs. Daniels emerged from the kitchen, cleaning her hands with a small towel.

"Dinner is in the oven boys. Don't stay up too long."

For few more minutes she prepared to leave, while boys sat in the living room, playing. However the game turned out to be more boring than expected and soon was replaced by a movie. They watched as the alien ran across the screen at super speed, killing off the main characters.

"Wouldn't it be cool to move like that?"

Pietro just nodded. "What would you say if I told you I can move so much faster?" ha thought, watching his friend. But Evan's eyes stayed glued to the TV screen.

It was well after midnight when the movie ended. Evan got off the couch and stretched, yawning.

"Share the bed or the floor?"

"I don't care."

"The bed it is then. I'm too tired to set up a mattress for you."

Pietro laughed shortly and went to the bathroom. As he showered he thought that it would be great to sleep with Evan. On the other hand it would also be a perfect torture. Being so close and not being able to touch. Gypsy sighed, frustrated. No, he will never risk losing Evan.

He walked back to Evan's room, where the other boy laid on his double bed, reading a comic book. His hair were wet, which meant he already showered, most probably in his parents' bathroom. Same as Pietro, he wore just pajama pants. Albino turned away to put his stuff on the chair.

"Pietro, what are those?" exclaimed Evan, seeing long shiny-white scars on his friend's back.

White-haired boy turned rapidly. Shit, he forgot about those.

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing to me."

"Please, Evan," Pietro's voice was quiet, tired. "Don't ask. They're old."

Evan still looked concerned, but didn't say a word. They slipped under the bed covers. For a while they talked, but then blonde started yawning and fell asleep. Pietro smiled to himself,watching Evan's expression soften. A crazy idea came to him. First he poked his friend's chest. When he got no response, he proceeded to the risky part. He leaned in, capturing boy's lips in a gentle kiss. He tasted like strawberries and vanilla.

Quiet murmur caused Pietro to jump away. But then Evan didn't wake, he just had a dream. Albino calmed down, and soon fell asleep as well.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Evan woke up rapidly. He had a nightmare, which he couldn't really remember and something woke him up. His mind, still clouded with the dream, couldn't exactly tell what. Then he felt it again. Delicate tingling on his neck and something warm moving against him. He looked down and took a double take.

Pietro's light frame was cuddled against his chest, albino's head tucked under his chin. It was... nice. Pietro's skin might have looked like ice, but it was warm and smooth. His white hair were soft and smelled like wind and spring flowers. Evan could feel his chest raising with every breath.

Suddenly it hit him. He was holding Pietro. Another_ boy_!

He quickly moved away, in result falling off the bed. Loud thud caused Pietro to jump up in surprise. Within a second he was wide awake, staring at Evan sitting on the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing, man."

Pietro looked at him strangely.

"You were cuddling against me!"

"Oh."

Blonde watched Pietro blush furiously, turning his eyes away from him, slender, almost feminine fingers playing with one of his white bangs.

"I... I was cold."

If Evan heard the tremble in his voice, he didn't show it. Instead he smiled and said:

"I figured that much. Still, you freaked me out a bit."

He got up from the floor. Then he though:

"But it felt good, holding you. Your skin feels so nice... What the _fuck_ am I thinking?"

------------------------------------------------------------------

The weekend passed with no more surprises. But as everything that's good, it had to end. As soon as they got to school, they were attacked by Madison's presence.

"Oh, like, hi Evan! How was your weekend? I was like so totally bored so..."

Pietro's hearing shut off. He didn't want to hear her squeaky voice so early in the morning. Instead, he looked at Evan, observing light playing in his hair. He looked into those brown eyes, always full of emotion. He noticed the boy was saying something.

"Huh?"

"You're OK, man? You kinda spaced out on me."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. You were saying?"

"I was kinda... asked out."

Pietro felt something heavy in his stomach.

"Who asked you?"

"Madison."

Evan knew he shouldn't say that as soon as he saw his friend's trademark smirk fell. He didn't really feel like going, but what could he do? It's not like _Pietro_ felt the same way about him, did he?

Pietro was simply shocked. A lightning could have stuck him now and he wouldn't notice. How dare she! Asking _his_ Evan out like this! Wait, did he just thought "his Evan"?

"Are-you-going-to-go?"

"What?"

Pietro mentally smacked himself. Accidentally he started talking in hyper speed mode. He repeated the question that his friend could understand.

"I... I think so. I mean, I can't stand her up like this. And if it doesn't work, we just won't do this again."

"Yeah, right."

"Hey," laughed Evan, seeing albino's sour face. "You'll get your own _shebari*."_

"That's not what I'm thinking about."

"Watch it or I'll believe you." (1)

Pietro smiled weakly, then turned and walked away. Strange, considering that he seemed to run everywhere.

As soon as he left school perimeter, the speedster ran. He ran as fast as he could, not caring about glass shattering from a sonic wave he created. Tears were falling down from his eyes. He was losing him. Just like Wanda...

------------------------------------------------------------------

Evan shifted nervously on the bench. He felt weird, sitting alone in the park, surrounded by kissing couples. Madison was late. Half an hour late. And as if it weren't enough, Pietro didn't show up in school for last few days.

What if Madison won't show up? He'd be a laughing stock in school...

Suddenly he realised that he wouldn't care. Ha had his eyes set for... someone else.

"Oh, like here you are," all too familiar chirping sounded behind him. "I was like totally on time, I swear, I just like met my best friend, you know Kathy, from my math class, she's totally awesome, anyways, we like started talking and she was like so great and I totally forgot about time..."

Evan let Madison talk, while silently praying for her to shut up. She finally had to take a breath. Before she said anything, he butted in:

"You wanna see a movie?"

The girl nodded and started to talk about the movie she heard of. The boy sighed. He was used to speed talking in huge quantities, alright, Pietro did it all the time. But at least he made _sense_.

Going to the movies turned out to be a bad idea. Firstly she made hi watch some boring chick flick. Secondly, she wanted to pay for both.

"If I went with 'Tro, we'd split," thought the boy. Why was he suddenly thinking of Pietro?

But after the movie came the worst.

Madison asked Evan to close his eyes. He looked at her strangely, but complied. The second his eyelids shut, he felt two arm sneaking around his neck and chubby lips pressed against his.

Evan's first kiss. He would have enjoyed it, but something was simply_ not_ _right_. Strange thoughts were running through his head. The boy didn't know were did they come from, were they right or wrong. All he could focus on was Madison. Her lips were too full and her hair too long. Her skin smelled like spices, heavy and suffocating scent. She was too short, her arms not slender enough, her chest pushing against him in wrong places.

Madison wasn't Pietro.

Evan broke the kiss and turned away. He could feel blush creeping up his face. He didn't wait for Madison to start speaking, he simply ran away. The only thing he knew, was that if he din't do something about his feelings, his head is going to explode.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon he found himself outside Pietro's house. Something struck him. He knew albino for five years and he _never_ was inside his house. Gathering his courage, he knocked on the door.

"We're not buying anything," came hoarse voice from the inside.

"I'm not a salesman... sir," anger boiled in Evan as he remembered scars on his friend's back. "I'm looking for Pietro."

"He's not here. Try at his friend's though. That's across the street."

Blonde raised and eyebrow and turned towards his house. The man was right! The light was on in his room. The boy rushed through the front door, then up the stairs, taking two steps at the time. As expected he found Pietro in his room. Albino sat on his bed, his knees pulled up to his chest, back resting against the headboard. His eyes were closed.

"Hey 'Tro. What's wrong?"

"She's gone, you know."

"Who?"

"My sister."

Evan took few careful steps towards the other boy and sat next to him. Pietro didn't seem to notice.

"I thought I lost you too. To her. I thought you didn't want me around anymore."

Blonde's eyes went wide with surprise as he felt white-haired head pressing against his shoulder. But he was even more shocked that Pietro's light frame shook with sobs. Pietro cried in front of _nobody_. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around his best friend, pulling him into comforting embrace.

"Funny," he thought. "How many details you start to notice in situation like this."

And indeed, his brain registered the whole lot of details. The feel of Pietro's shirt against his bare arms, the smell of mint shampoo and wind in his hair. How his tears sparkled in the lamp light. He smiled to himself when he came up with an _idea_. He started singing quietly. He sang in Romani, the only song Pietro ever taught him. It was a lullaby, one of Pietro's favorite. Somewhere in the middle of it, the gypsy boy stirred in his arms, trademark smirk back on his face.

"Stop it. You're really killing the melody."

Evan laughed but didn't realease Pietro from his hold.

"What are you doing?"

"I have no idea," replied Evan.

They sat like this for a little while. Blonde noticed that Pietro was unusually still. Suddenly albino spoke up.

"You're my best friend, you know?"

Evan nodded.

"Im' going to tell you something. Promise me, that you won't freak out."

"I promise."

"I like you."

"You're my friend, you're supposed to like me."

Pietro stood up rapidly, running his long fingers through his silver hair.

"No, I mean I like _like_ you."

And he was gone.

_

* * *

_

_* shebari - girl_

_1 - author's trademark motto_

_Sorry it took so long, but I had to buy a new laptop because my old one exploded (fan failure they told me)_

_Next up: Evan finds something out about himself and he has to deal with what Pietro told him...  
_


	5. Chapter 5: Kissing You

**Chapter 4: Kissing You**

Again Pietro disappeared for a week. He wasn't at school, he didn't show up for basketball practice, he was nowhere in the City. The blonde started to get worried. And then there was the whole Madison thing. At first she was furious, but then she started hanging around him, battering her followed him around even when he said he didn't want to have anything to do with her.

By now Evan knew why Pietro was so irritated by her.

Hew hoped nothing happened to his friend. He wanted to tell him he felt the same. And as if weren't enough, his head started to hurt like hell for the last few days, making him grumpy and not letting him sleep. But the weirdest thing was yet to come.

One day he woke up because of the headache. It was worse than ever. He got up to get some painkillers, but as he did, he knocked over a lamp on a bedside table. Surprised, he jumped away, feeling slight itching in his arm. Suddenly the headache was over. And there were pieces of _bones_ sticking out of his arm. Evan, terrified, watched the spikes go back _into_ his skin.

"Evan, are you alright?" asked his mother through the door.

"I'm... I'm fine."

Evan concentrated and watched how the spikes emerged again.

"Cool!"

For a day Pietro was gone from his mind, as he played with his newly discovered talent. Soon he found out that he can make spikes of various sizes and push them out of his body. But the most fun was creating bone plates that covered him like an armor. It was late in the afternoon, when he finally decided to go downstairs. In the living room there was another surprise.

"Auntie O!"

"Hello Evan. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure."

Evan and his aunt walked to the backyard.

"Have you noticed anything unusual about yourself?"

The boy felt like panicking. She knew! She knew that he didn't like kissing Madison. She knew how he felt about Pietro. She knew that he dreamed about him. She knew what happened during the sleepover...

But Ororo kept on talking:

"You don't have to say anything. I know you're afraid, it is not every day that you find such unusual talent within yourself. But there is nothing wrong with you. You're just a mutant, as am I. I have a friend in Bayville, not far from here. His name is Charles Xavier and he is the founder of an Institute for Gifted Youngsters. It's a place where people like us can gain control over their powers. I'd like to take you there."

Evan thought for a little. Sure, he could use some help with his spikes and everything, but leaving the City? More important, leaving Pietro? No way.

"Sorry, Auntie O. I just can't leave."

"That's what I though you'll say. Just remember, I'm here if you need me."

The boy nodded and showed her to the door. Few minutes after she left, he decided to take a walk to the park. He was almost there, when he saw him. Skinny albino was sitting at the bench, his head hung down. He looked almost exactly like the day Evan met him.

"Hi."

"Hi."

The dark-skinned boy sighed. This was going to be a hard conversation.

"I thought about what you said."

"Mhm."

"Will you look at me?" irritation filled Evan's voice. Pietro blushed, but kept staring at his lap. But then he felt a firm hand lifting his chin and found himself looking deep into chocolate-brown orbs. As in slow-motion movie, he watched them get closer, eyelids sliding down at almost painful pace.

And then their lips met. Good thing nobody was around, because Pietro could have sworn the world around them stood on fire. His mind was filled with images of two flames, one black and one white, swirling around each other, barely toughing, but fueling each otehr with their heat..

He pulled away, feeling his cheeks cover with crimson.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" albino asked.

Evan smiled, the way he smiled only to Pietro, and kissed him again.

* * *

Next up: Pietro's past catches up with him and he has to make a choice...


End file.
